Hatred for Addo Showboy has rendered actions of certain people beyond comprehension. Our values have all abandoned us to such a stage that vices that must ordinarily be frowned upon are celebrated as virtues.
If that were not the case, will this country get to a stage where two old men would call on the President to resign because they claimed he has failed the nation.
These “fatigued” old men are just out to cause mischief by their baseless allegations against the NPP government.
Nyaho Tamakloe and Nunoo Mensah must reflect the wisdom of those who meet the standards of statesmen. Very bizarre things are happening as the norm in our society to the extent that a group of agitators would mass up in front of a major hospital like 37 Military Hospital to protest against the government and the same group serving notice to picket at the Jubilee House in December for 31 days. Very soon the media and civil society groups and academia would urge them on because absurdity has taken over the acts of some who must know better just because of their thirst for regime change.
These “enemies” of the state lack credible messages to convince the electorate that they have better alternative policies to the governing NPP.
We are in abnormal times, hence the alteration of time-tested rules of engagement.
While the protestors disturbed patients on admission at the 37 Military Hospital, media houses like Joy News and TV3 gave them live coverage into the night. No ethics nor professionalism is a guide to our daily conduct.
In Kumasi, TV stations have turned their studios into a court to determine mostly marital matters. And nobody is questioning the capacity of the host and panel members to engage in such matters. As usual, we are all, including the media regulator, looking on in helpless amazement.
Today, to all those abusing media freedom, we advise them not to look far. Before they look for the British eminent jurist Lord Denning, they should become abreast of Chapter 12 of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution.
Chapter 12 guarantees all the parameters for media freedom to thrive without any prior restraint. But in the discharge of our duties to “uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people of Ghana,” we are warned of landmines on this professional journey.
In Article 164, the Constitution says “the provisions of Articles 162 and 163 of this Constitution are subject to laws that are reasonably required in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the regulations, rights and freedoms of other persons.” That is why we encourage journalism pedagogy for persons such as A Plus and Bulldog before they demonstrate their arrogant militancy on national television.
For some of the happenings on national radio and television, they have no room in journalism. May we ask whether the GJA Code of Ethics has any relevance to journalists in recent days? Blackmail and hate speech have nothing to do with freedom of expression.
Lord Denning noted that “freedom of the press is extolled as one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty. It is entrenched in the constitutions of the world. But is often misunderstood.
“I will first say what it does not mean. It does not mean the press is free to ruin a reputation or to break a confidence or to pollute the course of justice or to do anything unlawful.
It means that there should be no censorship. No restraint should be placed on the press as to what they should publish. Not by a licensing system. Nor by executive direction. Nor by court injunction.
“It means the press should be free from what Blackstone calls previous restraint or what our friends in the United States, co-heirs with us of Blackstone, call prior restraint. The press is not restrained in advance from publishing whatever it thinks right to publish.
“It can publish whatever it chooses to publish. But it does so at its own risk. It can publish and be damned.
“Afterwards, after publication, if the press has done anything unlawful, they can be dealt with by the courts. If they should offend by interfering in the course of justice, they can be punished in proceedings for contempt of court.”
Those who are abusing the sensibilities of the people by accusing them wrongly better take a cue.
The rights of media practitioners do not outweigh those of ordinary citizens. They should not abuse the public trust to lead in championing media freedom and free expression in the country.